Leaders from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) concluded a recent retreat with a commitment to achieving tangible results from the integration process, particularly with regard to creating jobs and improving the lives of the people of the Community.
22 May 2011: Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) held a retreat to continue their discussions on “Prioritising the Focus and Direction of the Community,” which they initiated at the 22nd Inter Sessional Meeting, held in Grenada in February 2011. The retreat ended in, inter alia, a renewed commitment to the achievement of tangible results from the integration process, with emphasis on job creation and improving the lives of the people of the Community.
The leaders, meeting from 21-22 May 2011, at Teperu, Mazaruni, Guyana, recognized that the ultimate goal of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) is to provide a better quality of life and greater prosperity for the people of the Community, while providing a platform for the Community’s economic development. Considering new and emerging challenges and important trends of the future, they agreed to identify practical initiatives in specific economic areas that would benefit the members of the Community in the shortest possible time. They further agreed that the current review of the CARICOM Secretariat should include strengthening the institution to enable it to play an enhanced role in mobilizing substantial resources for concrete projects in the areas identified. The leaders also recognized the existence of more opportunities for development, for instance, in the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and agreed that greater advantage should be taken of such opportunities.
The Heads of Government agreed to continue the dialogue on the way forward for the Community at its 32nd regular meeting, to be held in July 2011 in Saint Kitts and Nevis. [CARICOM Press Release]